492 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 



There seems to be but one generation a year. Adults begin 

 to issue about the middle of January and continue to appear 

 until the first of March. Egg-laying proceeds all through 

 this time, and old larvae and pupae may also be found all 

 through this period (no larv^ae towards the end of the period). 

 The eggs hatch in about two weeks and these lar^^ae lie in the 

 bases of the fascicles of needles all through the Summer and 

 Autumn and early Winter not pupating until December. The 

 adults issue in a few weeks and the life cycle is rebegun. 



The character and extent of the injury caused by the insect 

 make of it a serious pest. The number of larvae lying in the 

 bases of the fascicles is sufficient to completely stunt and de- 

 form all the needles of the fascicle. On a single tree three- 

 fourths of the fascicles may be thus injured. This practical 

 denudation of the tree may be repeated several times. It is 

 simply a matter of how many such denudations the tree can 

 withstand. Plate XII, made from a photograph of an unat- 

 tacked branch and a seriously attacked branch, shows better 

 than words can explain the effective character of the pest's 

 injuries. 



Fortunately several natural enemies of the pest are at work, 

 and in many places have done much to dissipate the threatened 

 danger. Polygonotus diplosidis, previou.sly found as a parasite 

 of Diplosis pmi-inopis O. S. (scrub- pine in New Jersey), and a 

 mite very like Pediculoides ventricosus (referred to by Marlatt 

 as an efficient agent in the destruction of the eggs of Cicada^, 

 are lx)th doing good work. The mite feeds on eggs, larvae and 

 pupae indiscriminately. It attaches itself by its mouth-parts 

 and forelegs to a larva and clings to it until the death 

 of the larva. The usual predaceous insects, such as the 

 larvae of Hemerobius and Chrysopa, the larvae and adults of sev- 

 eral Coccinellids and the nymphs of certain Reduviidte are all 

 to be found on the pines and probably help in fighting the 

 pest. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet has been observed to eat 

 many of the midges. The birds pick off the females while 

 they are on the buds oviixjsiting. 



The pe.st is not confined to the Monterey Pine {Pinus radiatd), 

 but has been taken from the following species of Pinns : tuber- 



